Towards a multi-methodological approach in the assessment of sensation seeking.

Abstract:

Replies to critical comments put forth by M. Zuckerman in the 2008 article "Rose is a rose is a rose: Content and construct validity," published in response to a study by M. Roth et al. in 2007 that investigated age and sex differences in sensations seeking by employing a newly developed scale: the Need Inventory of Sensation Seeking (NISS). The NISS was used instead of the Sensation Seeking Scale-Form V (SSS-V) because the SSS-V arguably contains several age-dependent items describing physically strenuous, delinquent, or unusually odd behaviors. 2 major points of criticism articulated by Zuckerman are addressed: (1) the dynamic nature of content validity and the need to reevaluate it when applying a psychometric instrument for specific populations, and (2) the importance of assessing all constructs according to a multimethod approach. The final section specifies several limitations of the NISS, including its problematic internal structure and the limited range of its items.